Month: December 2016

Although I don’t celebrate Christmas, we Malaysian folks here did enjoy our long weekend, thanks to Christmas that fell on Sunday this year. I managed to catch up with my parents and had lunch with my best friend, who gave me and my girl belated birthday presents. Yay! See what I told you about December being my favourite month? *big grin*

Speaking of presents, here is a post dedicated to birthday presents (beauty products ONLY) I got this year. They aren’t a lot of them, of course but what truly matters is that these are lovely things given by my dear family and friends. Thank you again to each and every one of you for making my birthday (and my daughter’s) this year a lovely one. Oh, I also bought a few myself. Yes you read that right, I bought MY OWN birthday presents because I’m pathetic like that. Haha! Or maybe self-appreciative, depending on how you look at it.

1.Bath & Body Works set

Taking advantage of the Christmas + holiday promotion, my little sister got me a bottle of Endless Weekend fine fragrance mist and warm vanilla sugar Shower Gel, wrapped in a clear plastic and tied with a blue BBW ribbon. I love both products, which apparently are my first BBW products bought locally. Before BBW had stores in Malaysia, I had been getting BBWs from swaps or a friend in the States for years.

2.Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetic Lip Tar & beauty goodies

This year, Joanna, my friend from Poland got me a tube of OCC Lip Tar and other fun beauty goodies! It’s our tradition to exchange birthday gifts every year. I’ve tried the NIVEA shampoo+conditoner samples, Laura Geller blusher and of course, the lip tar. Thank you dear for everything, and also for sending my daughter fun stickers & puzzle set for her 3rd birthday! *hug*

3.Shu Uemura 10% off & birthday treats

I can’t remember the last time I used or bought anything from Shu Uemura. So when I received a text message from them on Dec 1st, it got me thinking, “Why not? Isn’t this year the time for me to indulge in myself after 2 years of dealing with our daughter’s severe eczema?” As I was running out of pressed face powder, I went to the store in KLCC recently to purchase one. I got it at 10% off, along with two 15ml bottle of their best selling cleansing oil, one 15ml bottle of TSUYA skin lotion and 4 sachets of moisturizers. So the “birthday presents from us” are those three skincare products? Okay. In addition, they apparently had a Christmas promo which after done with paying and collecting my stuffs, the SA asked me to pick any card from a miniature wintery Xmas tree displayed in the store. The card I picked out bore what my other gift was; a Mika for Shu makeup pouch. Hmm…I honestly don’t get the Shu vibe from the pouch but, whatever. Freebies; “Yay!”, I presume?

4.SEPHORA BlackCard Member birthday gift

If last year’s birthday pressie was that mini eyeshadow trio, (which honestly isn’t bad, albeit basic) this year SEPHORA treated us to a mini blusher+highlighter embossed with “HAPPY” and “BIRTHDAY” on each half of the product. Sadly, I didn’t even get the chance to try the blusher because I accidently dropped it onto the floor one late night and the highlighter already shattered. Was I too clumsy? Was the product is of poor quality? Either way, I didn’t have the mood at all to salvage the remaining of the product so I tossed everything into a bin. *sobs*

That’s all of beauty products I’ve received, and bought. Did you spot anything that you have used yourself? What do you think of them, do you like em or loathe ’em? I’m especially interested in that SEPHORA 2016 Birthday Present. Please let me know what you think of the blusher if you’ve tried it.

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Scars. I generally dislike them. Post-pregnancy scar, now that’s a bittersweet affair. While I am thankful for the priviledge of carrying my child in my womb for over nine months, I have to admit, I don’t exactly enjoy what I see in the mirror when it comes to my tummy which to me, resembles those topography maps in Geography text books.

So when I came across this sample of “Bio Treatment Essence-in-Oil Scar Specialist” from Singaporean brand; Bio-essence, wrapped together in SHAPE magazine as a free gift back in June, I’d had to grab that magazine from the newstand shelf. Never mind that I’ve never got to finish reading the whole mag in the end. See publishers, if you want your magazines to sell well , never underestimate the power of freebies.*big grin*

The generous sample is 30ml oil housed in a small, “chubby” bottle. The actual product is double the amount of oil (60ml) , double the height yet slimmer than this chubby sample bottle. Regardless, 30ml is actually enough to last for over a month when used at least once daily. Hence, I describe it here as ‘generous’.

The unique blend of 11 essential oils

Despite eleven different oils blended to make this “scar specialist”, lavender is the only distinct scent I could detect everytime I use this product.

As a self-proclaimed “Scar Specialist”, this oil fails to do nothing to my post pregnancy scars except moisturises the area. But then again, it does claim to helps minimize the formation of new scars. Therefore, it isn’t exactly fair for me to expect my three-year-old tummy stretch marks to disappear.

As a wound-healer, I’m happy to report that the oil really helps a small, new cut on my arm dried & healed faster! No surprise there since two of its ingredients, calendula oil & chamomile oil are both natural anti-imflammatories.

All in all, Bio-essence “Bio Treatment Essence-in-Oil Scar Specialist” moisturises skin effectively when used daily as well as heals new, small wounds a little faster. As for scars, it doesn’t fade them at all, just like any other anti-scars and anti-stretchmarks products I’ve tried so far. I guess I’m just gonna make peace with the fact that my strechmarks (and yeah, my acne scars too) are here to stay, leaving me never.

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It has been awhile since my last post on a mascara, my favourite go-to makeup product. After I was done with the last mascara I’d been using for three months, off to the drugstore I went to search for another wand that hopefully, won’t leave me disappointed this time. I was aware that I don’t really use Revlon products much, so I stood before the Revlon section, and a range of contrasting black-and-colour mascaras quickly caught my eyes. There are 5 different mascaras of black+blue, black+green, black+red, black+purple and black+pink packaging all to deliver different effects on lashes.

I picked up the black+red one; REVLON ULTIMATE ALL-IN-ONE mascara at about 15% less than it’s normal price of RM39.90 in Blackest Black. Packaging wise, I really love the non-traditional shape of the tube. It’s flatten as opposed to the usual cylinder mascara tubes, which makes storing of this product more effective. (doesn’t it annoy you when mascara or lipstick tubes roll off the table all the time?!) A part of the tube, the black one is velvety rubber so it leaves no visible fingerprints. Interestingly, the bristles (or mini brush, depending on the mascaras) matched the colour of the outer packaging so in my case, red Revlon Power Mini Brush™. Personally, I find this the most useless feature of any mascara. Honestly what is the point of having a coloured brush only to be dipped and darken by the product and leaves you no chance of seeing the red (or green, or blue, etc) at all? No, please don’t suggest me to wash off the brush just to ensure whether my mascara brush is, indeed red because seriously? Who in their right mind would do that?!

Okay, enough with my 2 minute rant. Now let’s move on to the product itself. Here’s what Revlon has to say about this 5-in-one multi-achieving mascara:

After more than a month of using this mascara, I must say this one gem does deliver at least three of the five benefits promised. That is sincerely not bad at all for a multitasking mascara. I’ve been experimenting with enough mascaras to know that there is actually no such thing as multitasking mascaras, simply because different effects require different formulae. While one mascara can deliver fantastic lengthening effect, it fails to add volume to the lashes and vice versa. So “why ULTIMATE ALL-IN-ONE mascara if you’re such a smarty pants, Hanna?”Ah, I can hear your mind out loud. My answer is simple; curiousity. I’m always curious about how well can multitasking products deliver their 5, 10 or even 15 promises. *winks*

As a conclusion, REVLON ULTIMATE ALL-IN-ONE mascara is good enough for definition, adding a bit of volume and offers intense color (of Blackest Black for me). However, it doesn’t provide lengthening effect nor lift my lashes, especially with two of more coats so if you have straight lashes, you may need to curl your lashes prior to applying this mascara.

If you have used this mascara, or any other from this range please let me know what you think. Perhaps you could suggest me the other four mascaras I could try next time? Do let me know. Till then, enjoy this festive month!

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Here comes my favourite month of the year! What’s not to love about December? It’s a month of holiday seasons, be it Christmas or for us Muslim folks in Malaysia, it means month-long school holiday! It’s also the month when sales are everywhere so if you feel like some tropical vacation to end the year, please come over to this country, shop ’till you drop and help boost our economy. *ha!*

Most importantly, December is the month I a turn a year older. Being a December baby does have its perks; you are eternally a lot younger than your peers. And because December is the end of the year, a birthday in December doubles as a time to recap the year and prepare us for the following year to come in January (translation: New Year resolutions).